[nicpottier]

I should add that we decided to stop doing this when we realized we were now playing the lottery for a living. We had a few times where we got featured in stores and made thousands a day but didn't take off from there and that was that for that title.

If I can offer any advice it is to focus on simple mechanics and keep production costs way down. Don't spend more than three months on launching your first title.

[markus_zhang]

When reviewing the history of ID Software I came upon an interesting fact: Back in Softdisk, i.e. before ID was a thing, the team managed a product called "Gamer's Edge", which is a bi-monthly subscription service (people nowadays would love the idea) that gave players two full games and a bunch of other smaller tools.

I'm wondering if indie teams should more or less do the same if they are not eyeing big hits, which few managed to pull off. Two months might be too stingy, but with the engine and tools built it might not be impossible to pull off a by quarter subscription?

[tubularhells]

That's anninsane schedule that cannot be pulled off with today's audience expectations.

The main creator of the 10mg collection was on the Eggplant Show recently and talked about releasing games quarterly and how unsustainable that is.

[markus_zhang]

Yeah agreed it's too fast. Back in 90s there was way less demand on resources.

[jmiskovic]

I'm following the Sokpop collective, they are 4 developers that have committed to releasing 2 games per month. The main source of income seems to be Patreon subscriptions, but games also get released on Steam.

Every one game is quirky, vibrant and fun. For few of them I was disappointed that devs moved on instead of continuing working to bring out the potential, but after a while they would return to same concept and release a sequel.

[markus_zhang]

Wow I never heard about them, that's awesome! Immedaitely browsing their webpage...

[jek0]

Funny how "lottery" is the word that comes out the most when we talk about making games for a living.

Big studios solve this by publishing games by the hundreds.

[nicpottier]

Right. Ya, in truth I think the big studios were all built off a single hit. And those hits keep paying out for a long time and they leverage either the brand to build sequels or just start stringing out new titles hoping another will "hit". Cross-marketing is huge too.

You can be successful building mobile games, just like you can win the lottery. :)

[spookybones]

This sounds a lot like book publishing